Borough Mayors' Manual 2016
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BOROUGH MAYORS’ MANUAL ixteenth Edition | February 2016 Ha isbu g, PA Commonwealth of Pennsylvania PA epartment of Community & Economic evelopment | dced.pa.gov Comments or inquiries on the subject matter of this publication should be addressed to: Governor’s Center for Local Government Services Department of Community and Economic Development Commonwealth Keystone Building 400 North Street, 4th Floor Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120-0225 (717 787-8158 1-888-223-6837 E-mail: ra-dcedclgs@pa.gov dced.pa.gov No liability is assumed with respect to the use of information contained in this publication. Laws may be amended or court rulings issued that could affect a particular procedure, issue or interpretation. The Department of Community and Economic Development assumes no responsibility for errors and omissions nor any liability for damages resulting from the use of information contained herein. Please contact your local solicitor for legal advice. Preparation of this publication was financed from appropriations of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Governor’s Center for Local Government Services acknowledges the input and comments from the Pennsylvania State Mayors’ Association and Duquesne University School of Law. Copyright © 2016, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, all rights reserved. Table of Contents I. orough Government . .2 Development of Borough Government . .3 Role of Municipal Government . .4 Structure of Borough Government . .5 Role of Mayor . .10 II. Office of orough Mayor . .11 Qualifications . .11 Vacancies and Absences . .12 Compensation . .13 Expenses . .14 Ethics . .15 Surcharges . .1 Official Liability . .1 Removal from Office . .18 III. Executive Powers and Duties . .19 Law Enforcement Powers and Duties . .19 Emergency Powers . .21 Administrative Powers and Duties Related to Public Safety . .22 Other Administrative Powers and Duties . .25 IV. Legislative Powers . .26 Organization Meetings . .2 Council Meetings . .28 Voting in Council Meetings . .28 Ordinances, Resolutions, and Motions . .30 V. Community Relations . .33 Community Leadership . .33 Public Celebrations/Individual Recognitions . .33 Ceremonial Role . .33 Constituent Services . .33 Public Relations Officer . .33 Solemnization of Marriages . .34 VI. Practical Guidelines for orough Mayors . .35 OROUGH MAYORS’ MANUAL February 2016 A Guide to Legal Sources In this Manual, beginning with Section II entitled “Office of Borough Mayor,” many of the statements of the law in Pennsylvania will be followed by their legal sources. The sources are one of two kinds: statutes which are formal arrangements of laws passed by the General Assembly and other legislative bodies, and court cases which are primarily judicial interpretations of the meanings of those statutes. Most of the citations of statutes are from the Borough Code. A “code” is a consolidation of laws on a particular subject which, in the case of the Borough Code, is borough government. Citations to the Borough Code will look like this example: 8 Pa C S §10A06. The number “8” refers to the title of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, abbreviated “Pa C S ,” where the compilation of borough laws is located. The numbers and letter following the symbol for section (§) designates the section of Title 8 where the law, now a “statute,” may be found. Other titles of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes referenced in this Manual include: Title 23 (Domestic Relations ; Title 35 (Health and Safety ; Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure ; and Title 65 (Public Officers . All of these consolidated statutes are available online at: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/Public/cons_index.cfm Not all laws are consolidated into codes. There are laws found in unconsolidated statutes. Unconsolidated statutes are statutes in a title with many different subjects in contrast to a consolidated title such as the Borough Code. The most common unconsolidated statutes cited in this Manual are from Title 53 entitled “Municipal and Quasi-Municipal Corporations.” Unconsolidated statutes are cited similarly to consolidated statutes except “P.S.” is used in place of “Pa.C.S.” All of the court cases referenced in this Manual are decisions of statewide courts; namely, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, which is the first level of appeal from a county court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which is the second and final level of appeal. Unlike previous editions of this Manual, no county cases have been cited in this Manual. This is because county cases are the case law only of that county and they do not have statewide application. Commonwealth Court and Supreme Court cases are reported primarily in two different volumes of books. They are: a series of volumes containing only the cases of that Court and a regional series of volumes known as the Atlantic Reporter. Because the Atlantic Reporter contains cases decided in both Courts and is more readily available to the public, citations of court cases in this Manual will be to the Atlantic Reporter alone. There are three series of the Atlantic Reporter which are abbreviated as “A ,” “A 2d,” and “A 3rd”. When a court case is referenced, the name of the case will appear first followed by the volume of the reporter, the series of the reporter, and the page where the case begins. At the end of the citation, in parentheses, will be an abbreviation of the Court and the year in which the court decision was rendered. Here is an example: Hoffman v Borough of Macungie, 63 A.3rd 461 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2013 . After a case is initially cited, it will be cited in an abbreviated fashion thereafter. Using the above case as an example, that case will be cited as Hoffman, supra at 471 if it follows the referencing of another case and the cited material is on page 471. (“Supra” is a Latin word meaning above. Conversely, if the same Hoffman case is cited consecutively, this fact will be denoted by the abbreviation Id at 471. (“Id ” is an abbreviation of the Latin word Idem, which means the same. 1 OROUGH MAYORS’ MANUAL February 2016 I. orough Government In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there are essentially three types of municipal governments: boroughs, cities and townships. The Town of Bloomsburg in Columbia County is the one notable exception to this general rule. Townships are the units of local government which subdivide counties in the same manner that counties subdivide the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Townships are unique in the sense that their land mass can be fragmented and boroughs and cities can be created within or from their land mass through a legal process known as incorporation. A township cannot be merged into an existing borough but a borough can be merged into an existing township. Generally speaking, cities are large, more densely populated units of local government. Boroughs are usually smaller versions of cities but less densely populated. Boroughs can be likened to the common notion of a town in contrast to a city metropolis. Third class cities can be reincorporated as boroughs. Townships are divided into two classes based upon population, known as first class townships and second class townships. Cities are divided into three classes based upon population with a similar designation as townships although the reality is that Philadelphia is the only first class city; Pittsburgh is the only second class city, and Scranton is the only second class A city. There is only one class of boroughs. The registered voters of all municipalities have the right under Article IX of the Pennsylvania Constitution to create their own form of municipal government using the process outlined by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania known as home rule. In Pennsylvania, 32 boroughs, 21 cities and 24 townships have exercised their constitutional right to create their own form of government. Typically when this happens, the “home rule” borough, city, or township will establish its own form of local government but reference the legislative code under which it was originally formed for any matter not addressed and not in conflict with its home rule charter. Boroughs are the second most common form of municipal government in Pennsylvania; their number is exceeded only by the number of second-class townships. Pennsylvania’s 955 boroughs represent 37.2 percent of all general purpose municipal governments in Pennsylvania. The median number of boroughs per county is 11. The number ranges from one in Forest County to 84 in Allegheny County. The commonwealth’s boroughs govern a combined population of more than 2.5 million, representing 19.8 percent of the state’s total population. The populations of boroughs vary widely. The boroughs with the largest populations are: State College (Centre County , 42,034; Norristown (Montgomery County , 34,324; Bethel Park (Allegheny County , 32,313; Monroeville (Allegheny County , 28,386; and Plum (Allegheny County , 27,126. The boroughs with the smallest populations are: Centralia (Columbia County , 10; Valley-Hi (Fulton County , 15; S.N.P.J. (Lawrence County , 19; Seven Springs (Somerset County , 26; and Green Hills (Washington County , 29. The median population of a borough in Pennsylvania is 1,320. Below is a breakdown of boroughs by population size based upon the 2010 federal census: Populat on Number 20,000 and over 9 15,000 - 19,999 7 10,000-14,999 17 5,000-9,999 109 2,500-4,999 178 1,000-2,499 2 1 Under 1,000 404 2 OROUGH MAYORS’ MANUAL February 2016 The disparity in the land area of boroughs.